Charles h



"(NO modeL) C H- SMITH.

- SNAP HOOK- 11'0. 421,200. Patented Feb. 11, 1800.

J7 gli-ff UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLEs H. sMITH, OE NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, AssIeNOR To o. R. NORTH aCOMPANY, OE sAME PLACE.

SNAP-HOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 421,200, dated February11, 1890. Application filed December 9. 188?. Serial No. 333,011. (Nomodel.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Beit known that I, CHARLES II. SMITH, of New Haven, in the County of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inSnap-Hooks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of-referencemarked thereon, to beafull, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specication, andrepresent, in-

Figure 1, a side view of the hook complete; Fig. 2, a top view of thehook complete; Fig. 3, alongitudinal section of the hook, illustratingthe introduction of the tongue; Fig. 4, a top view of the hook withoutthe tongue and representing the hook as before the tongue is applied;Fig. 5, a perspective view of the tongue-piece detached.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of snap-hooks inwhich the tongue is in the form of a iiat spring hung at the heel of thehook and adapted to engage under the nose of the hook,'and so that bythe depression of the spring-tongue the hook is open, and the reactionof the spring-tongue when free closesthe hook, the object of theinvention being a simple construction in which the spring-tongue may besecured without the introduction of rivets or othermcans of positiveattachment between the tongue and body of the hook; and theinventionconsists in the construction as hereinafter described, and particularlyrecited in the claim.

A represents the body of the hook, terminating at one end in a hook B,having its nose C contracted toward the heel or rear end of the body. Atthe heel or rear end the body terminates in a loop D, or other device,by which the hook may be attached substantially as in hooks of usualconstruction. The body of the hook is constructed with a recess E,opening from the upper side, the rear end Of the opening continuedthrough to the back side of the body. In this recess inwardlyprojectinglugs a (one or more) are introduced, here represented as one upon eachside,

to form a support for the heel end of the tongue. In the bottom of therecess E and at its forward end a cavity B is formed, as seen in Fig. 3.

leg of the U.

In the formation of the hook it is cast complete, as I have described.To do this the nose C of the hook is turned to one side or out of itsnormal plane, so as to enable the molding of the hook, and also therecess E, with its cavity b and with the lugs ce, so that the hook thuscast comes from the mold in the form represented in Fig. et.Subsequently, .as will hereinafter appear, the hook is bent to bring thenose into the plane of the body.

The tongue F, as seen in Fig. 5, is made from a iiat strip of steel orother suitable elastic metal. It is bent into U shape, and so as to forma bend G, which is adapted to set over the lugs ca. The tongue forms oneThe other leg I-I of the U eX- tends forward and at its extreme end isturned downward, so as to form a hook or shoulder shape, as at I. Thedistance of this turneddown end I of the leg H from the bend Gcorresponds to the distance of the cavityb in the body from the lugs ct.The tongue is introduced while the hook is in the shape that it comesfrom the mold, as seen in Fig. 4, and it is introduced by passing thetongue part open end up, the leg H through the open-A ing E forward ofthe lug a, and the other leg or tongue F to the rear of the lugs, asrepresented in broken lines, Fig. 3. Then the tongue-piece is turnedforward into place, bringing the turned-down end I into the cavity ZJ,as clearly seen in Fig. 3. In the tongue-piece prepared for introductionthe legs are separated to a considerably greater degree than theirnormal position when in the hook. After the introduction, as beforedescribed, the tongue-piece F is depressed to a plane below the nose Cof the hook.- Then the hook is twisted to bring it directly over thespring, as seen in Fig. 2, and so that the tongue then left free itsends will come to a bearing upon the under side of the nose, as seen inFigs. 1 and 3.

The lugs a form, as it were,

a pivot, upon which the tongue works.

The turned-down end Iof the tongue engaging in the cavity b of the bodyprevents movement of the tonguepiece in a longitudinal direction, and itis therefore firmly secured in place, and Without other mechanicaloperation than the placing of the tongue, it being understood that inIOO the general construction of snap-hooks it i necessary to cast thehook portion twisted to one side, as l have described, in order that thehook with the loop may be molded. There is therefore a Very considerablesaving in the manufacture of the hook over the general construction ofthis class of hooks, the tongues being readily produced complete bymaend in a hook B, the nose of which is in the plane of the body of theloop, the body constructed with a recess opening to the back of thehook, and with one or more lugs a in the side of said recess, and withacavity b at the forward end of said recess, combined with atongue-piece of U shape made from elastic metal, one leg of thetongue-piece forming the tongue, and the tongue-piece set through saidopening, the leg forming the tongue upon the outer side of said lug, theother leg extending forward in the said recess on the other side saidlug, its forward end turned down into and so as 4to engage the saidcavity b, substantially as described.

CHARLES H. SMITH.

Witnesses:

FRED C. EARLE, LILLIAN D. KELSEY.

